ECommerce sales growing fast
Traditional shop owners who have decided to sell their goods online say the move has saved their businesses.
Some four-fifths (79 per cent) of retailers claim they couldn’t have kept their high street presence alive without being online at the same time, according to a survey from eBay.
While British shoppers currently spend £1 in every £13 online, eBay sees this rising to £1 in £5 over the next decade, with online sales in categories such as electricals and books exceeding those offline.
According to online sales body IMRG, e-commerce was up by 11 per cent in November compared to last year, with shoppers spending £5.3 billion online last month.
British SME’s (small-to-medium enterprises) are increasingly turning to ecommerce as a means of improving their retail operations, according to new research.
Figures from Actnic show that over 35 per cent of retailers quizzed now sell goods on the internet – jumping from the 11 per cent share recorded in 2006.
It was also found that over a quarter of companies questioned operate through several channels, with outlets welcoming customers on the high street also taking orders over the telephone and on the internet.
“Meanwhile, it was discovered that a sizable proportion of firms asked are making use of online marketplaces on the web.
Amazon and eBay were picked out as the most popular websites for the placement of goods in online auctions.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has confirmed that ecommerce is rapidly is growing in popularity in the UK.
According to its latest figures, December saw £238 million spent on products online, totalling 3.5 per cent of all retail transactions.
This was up from a 2.8 per cent share recorded in June, although the ONS said in its report that the figures represented “an estimate of the specific contribution of internet sales to overall retail sales in Great Britain”.
The transactions recorded in the report also only refer to products, as opposed to services, and those bought by “consumers for personal and household use”.
While statistics from the ONS are typically classed as “official”, other reports have suggested that online retail was up considerably in December.
While the IMRG said that 14 per cent fewer people used ecommerce sites on Christmas 2008 compared with 2007, the number of transactions was 26 per cent higher.
